Schools and Community Groups to Work Together in Coastal Conservation

Michael Julian, Executive Director of the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) has announced the release of a ground breaking marine environment and coastal conservation education program for schools and local communities, freely available on the AUSMEPA website at http://www.ausmepa.org.au/student-leadership/

The program, titled Student Leadership for Coastal Conservation Projects, was developed from a $26,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Caring for Our Country, Community Coastcare project. 

The education program will help students plan their next innovative projects with community or local partners; it contains a full communication tool kit to help students undertake local community education projects.

The website provides specific advice for schools wanting to initiate habitat restoration. Students are advised about methods for creating digital photographic libraries of their local environment that can have conservation applications in the future.

Community groups are provided with help and advice on how best to work with schools and students. It also asks community groups to think outside the box and ask students to help them run their public education program.

The leadership program is designed around helping students identify a coastal conservation project either independently or with a partner. It has a wide range of planning tools to help students understand the necessary stages that they need to address when planning the project. Throughout their project, students will develop their leadership skills.

The website is divided into five sections; the Students section is a detailed reference section for students to dip into at the different stages of organising their project. The Teachers section assists teachers in supporting their students through the process and provides advice about building in students’ wellbeing issues that may relate to school policy.  The Community section is designed to help community groups develop partnerships with schools. The Photo Survey section provides procedures for students using digital cameras and GPS units to make libraries of conservation images for future use. Lastly, the Revegetation section suggests some methods specific to schools to organising a Revegetation project.

A FREE poster describing how to use the website in planning a coastal conservation project is available to schools and community groups by emailing info@ausmepa.org.au 

Michael Julian said this latest program compliments the existing AUSMEPA marine environment education website www.ausmepa.org.au, which hosts five other units of work covering stormwater pollution, climate change and coral bleaching, marine pests and threats and ships and ports and the marine environment.

A copy of the poster associated with this Media Release will be sent to you separately.

For more information please contact Michael Julian 02 6254 2559 or 0417 657 951.